"The Loaner Son"

by Mike Fincher

 

The bus slowed to a stop in front of the grey Victorian house. The folding door opened and little Johnnie stepped down to the sidewalk. His red Spiderman backpack swung back and forth as he ran up the walk to the front door. His backpack sagged nearly to the ground with the weight of his cell phone, books, e-book readers, mp3 player and PDA. The sight of the black sedan in the driveway froze Johnnie for a second, before he continued his excited run home.

Johnnie stepped up to the palm reader and touched it with his hand. The system tried to read his palm print through the dirt, play-dough and candy stains. A few seconds later the system chimed and the front door unlocked. Johnnie had to lean his entire weight into the door to push it open. He dropped his backpack on the marble floor in the entry hall and ran to the stairs to his bedroom. Mom never picked up his toys and he knew that his new Optimus Prime was waiting for him. Prime and Johnnie had a date to go fight Decepticon bad guys.

The sound of Mommy's voice stopped him halfway up the stairs. "Johnnie, please come into the parlor!" Johnnie didn't want to disappoint Prime, but he loved his Mommy too much to disobey her.

He climbed back down the stairs and turned down the hall leading to the parlor. "Mommy, today at school I-" stopped Johnnie as he saw that Mommy had visitors. "Who are you?" asked Johnnie to the strange man sitting in the chair nearest the fire and across from his Mommy and Daddy.

"Son, this is Mr. Roberts. He's here to talk to you," said Mommy. Johnnie saw that Mommy was looking at something behind Mr. Roberts’ chair. He glanced at Mr. Roberts and then peered around the chair and saw a little boy standing there. The little boy's blue eyes glared so intently at Johnnie that he found he couldn't even open his mouth to say hello.

"Johnnie," said Mr. Roberts, jarring Johnnie's attention away from the boy. "Johnnie, I need to talk to you. I'd like to take you on an adventure. Do you want to go on adventure? We could go fight bad guys with Optimus Prime."

Johnnie's eyes lit up as he remembered his promise to Prime. "Yes, sir. I like Optimus Prime. He's cool."

Mr. Roberts smiled as he heard this and responded, "Great! Let's get going then, shall we?" Mr. Roberts looked at Daddy after he said this. Daddy's impassive face twitched a bit, but otherwise showed no other response.

"Very well. Let's get this over with," said Daddy as he walked over to the little boy. Daddy held out his hand to the little boy and the little boy put his hand in Daddy's massive hand. Daddy turned and led him out of the room and deeper into the house. Mommy got up, looked at Johnnie with wet eyes and then ran out of the room.

"Mommy, where are you going?" asked Johnnie. Before Johnnie could run after his Mommy, he was grabbed by Mr. Roberts. "Put me down! Put me down! I want my Mommy! Oww! Oww!" screamed Johnnie.

"Be quiet, little boy!" yelled Mr. Roberts as he carried the struggling Johnnie out of the parlor, down the hall and out of the house. Johnnie wriggled his arms and legs the whole way, trying to catch Mr. Roberts in the head or between the legs, but Mr. Roberts was too fast.

Johnnie felt the world spin in a new direction a few times before he landed on a cushioned seat. He twisted around to get upright and realized that he was in the black car in the driveway. Before he could get out, Mr. Roberts was in the back seat with him and the doors were closed. Johnnie moved to open his door, but couldn't find the handle. He looked for a way to open the window, but he was out of luck there, too.

"You can't get out. It's for your own safety," said Mr. Roberts.

"Where are you taking me? I'm not supposed to go with strangers," said Johnnie.

"I'm not a stranger. We've met. Besides, I told you that we are going to fight bad guys. An adventure, remember?"

"Yeah, I guess that's okay."

Two days later, the helicopter touched down on the green patch outside a large building. Johnnie saw the sign on the building and said out loud, "U.S. Army Recruit Training Center, Baghdad, Middle East Territory."

"Very good, Johnnie," said Mr. Roberts, who was watching as a man exited the building and walked toward the helicopter. Johnnie looked closely at the man and saw that he was wearing a soldier's uniform. "Come along, Johnnie. You're going to start your adventure."

Johnnie climbed out of the helicopter after Mr. Roberts and waited as the man approached. The man stopped, saluted and said, "Welcome back, Major Roberts."

Mr. Roberts, who was not in a soldier's uniform, did not return the salute. Instead he said, "Thanks, Sergeant. This boy is Johnnie Wilson, your new recruit." Mr. Roberts turned toward Johnnie and said, "Johnnie, this man is Sergeant Jacobs. He and his friends will teach you everything you need to know about fighting bad guys, okay?"

"Okay," replied Johnnie. Sergeant Jacobs stuck his hand out to Johnnie. Johnnie took the offered hand and followed the Sergeant into the building. After the door shut behind them, Jacobs looked at Johnnie and said, "Son, you're going to be trained as a U.S. Army Soldier and will stand duty here in the Middle East Territories. Do you understand?"

"No, Sergeant Jacobs. I want to fight bad guys like Optimus Prime. Then, I want to go home to my Mommy and Daddy."

"I'm sorry, Johnnie, but you're not going home."

"What? I want to go home. When can I go home?"

"Never, Johnnie. Soldiers never go home. They just forget about the world and do their duty."

"I won't forget about my Mommy and Daddy," said Johnnie with a voice full of defiance. "You can't make me!"

"Johnnie, let me tell you a story, okay?"

"Okay. But, I'm not going to forget about Mommy and Daddy!"

"Alright. One day a man and a woman, who love each other very much, decide that they want to have a little boy. So, they go to the government to apply to have a child. 'We want a little boy with blue eyes', they say. The government says, 'Okay, your boy will be delivered in nine months.' So the man and woman go home and wait. Then, nine months later the mailman delivered a baby boy to the man and woman. They were so happy to be a daddy and a mommy. But, their little boy didn't have blue eyes. He had green eyes. They asked the mailman why their little boy had green eyes. He said that all babies have green eyes, and that they turn blue when they get bigger."

"I have green eyes!" said Johnnie.

"Yes, you do. Now, after a few years the little boy's eyes stayed green. The mommy and daddy were very confused. So, they called the government and filed a complaint. They government told them that they had delivered the wrong boy! The mommy and daddy were not happy with the government and demanded that a new boy with blue eyes be given to them. The government agreed and offered to take the green eyed boy away for free. So, the government showed up with the blue eyed boy and took the green eyed boy to the Army. The mommy and daddy were very happy. They loved their blue eyed boy very much and were very glad to finally have the right boy. The green eyed boy is you, Johnnie. Do you understand?"

"No! You're lying! Mommy says lying is bad! I want my Mommy!"

"Okay, Johnnie, I'll call your Mommy. Why don't you have a class of Kool-Aid and take a vitamin for me while you wait, okay?"

"Okay. I like vitamins. Which flavor is this one?"

"It's a new one. It's called 'Propranolol'."

"It tastes like orange," said Johnnie as he swallowed the pill and took a swig of his Kool-Aid.

"Good. I'll be right back." Johnnie watched as the Sergeant left the room. A few minutes later when the Sergeant returned, he asked Johnnie, "So, are you ready start your training to fight bad guys?"

"Yes, sir. I want to be like Prime. I want to fight bad guys."

"Great! We've got all the time in the world."`